Toddler Picky Eater

T.,

I went through the same thing with my daughter - picky right from the beginning of solid food! She ate oatmeal and bananas for the first year, then added pasta and potatoes. The pediatrician had me doing all kinds of things - calorie counts, vitamins...- because she didn't even hit the growth chart (she was petite). But she grew proportionately for height and weight, and was very healthy. We finally decided that she would eat when she was hungry and we would just give her the food she wanted. She is now 12 and healthy, very active, and has caught up to "average" on the growth chart! Still a picky eater, though, but has added some veggies and chicken into her diet. If he's eating and is healthy, I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point.

Hi T.,

There is a web site for children that are picky eaters. Have you tried researching that site? D.

Take a look at this website. It has more than enough to find out all you need to know about "picky eaters". I'm sure you should find something there that will help your situation.

http://video.aol.com/video-search/query/picky%20eater

Good Luck and I hope you post how any of this works out for you.

B. B

whatever you do, do not facilitate these picky habits now as they will develop into something worse in the future. We went through a similar setting with our son who is now 10. It may sound harsh but he was simply not given any options. We put food on his plate, he either ate it or he did not. If he chose not to eat the food then we covered it and when he was hungry for a snack, we introduced the same food again. Eventually he figured out that he wasn't able to manipulate us and is now a very good eater. Good Luck to you.

Toddlers definitely go through phases. My almost 2 year old does not eat veggie either. I actually bought the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook that has recipes with puree'd veggies in the foods...both my kids have loved everthing I have made and they do not even know what all is involved.

Ha,
Sounds like my kids. My son is 9 and hates fruits and veggies. Like yours, he only likes a few things!!
I have 3 kids, all have been picky. My oldest, 18, now tries everything. But I know it is frustrating for a parent, especially when you are trying to make dinner that everyone will eat!
I made my son eat a small piece of apple and HE threw up!!
The doctor thought that was just amusing!
I stress over it all the time, but what can you do...just keep trying to get him to try new foods. I wouldn't MAKE him eat it, just offer it. Tell him to try a little bite, and if he doesn't like it to spit it out. LOL
Good Luck!!
N.

Hello there- My son is 6y6m old now but he to was a picky eater.I think as long as he is getting the protein,dairy and fruit he is at least getting a well rounded diet.He is eating chicken,apples and dairy -Cheese so that is good.My husband and I actually 1 time just shoved spagetti in his month at a later age and he loved it! I would make sure he is drinking the vitamin enriched juices too ! My son Garrett now drinks alot of the Splash drinks which have all the vitamins. One day he will be eating you out of house and home. Also with the spagetti I always disguise chopped up vegetables like asgaragus etc in it then they don't know what they are eating. Good Luck :-)

T...kids go thru different stages. I remember my brother used to ONLY eat PB&J sandwhiches for the LONGEST time! If your dr is concerned and gave him a multivitamin, just have him take that for now...This might just be a stage he is goning thru and will probably eventually grow out of it.

Hey have you tried the sneeky route. My daughter 3yr was always a good eater then suddenly no! No! No! started. So I started putting pureed vegis in her mac and cheese. pureed califlower on her pizza under the cheese. I got really creative with it. There is a book on this called deceptively delicious. I haven't read it though. Since all Moms could use more time use frozen vegi's. Boil them- run under cold water-puree-bag them. done just add a little when you cook.

My son is going thru the same thing. He is 2.5 y/o and all he eats is pizza, chicken, tons of crackers and fruit loops. I know when he was on the mashed potatoes stage, I would hide veggies in them and he would not even notice. Maybe if you tried hiding other fruits in the applesause. My daycare even hides broccili in his applesauce. I know it is gross but it gets a well balanced diet this way. Just keep trying different things and be patient.

You have gotten a lot of good advice and I haven't read it all, but I will say that it can be a Sensory Integration issue as well - my son has sensory integration disorder, and has oral aversions.

Infant Toddler Connection of Fairfax County is awesome, providing a free initial in-home evaluation, and sliding scale services if your child is determined to have issues.

We went through them and now are enrolled in ChildFind. They helped a lot with my son's aversions and with educating me on how to deal with them.

Sometimes these issues are control-based, a child wanting more control over their lives. Sometimes there is a sensory issue and the child literally finds textures or flavors repulsive. I think it's important to know which issue your kid has before addressing the problem. You're a good momma for asking the questions.

H.

My daughter did the same thing, and is still doing it, at 6 years old. It does get better, though. She went through a period of only eating bread and cheese. My daughter takes an over-the-counter multi-vitamin each morning and I giver her a cup of milk with either Carnation Instant Breakfast or Ovalteen. Now that she's in school they talk about healthy eating habbits and she's been picking out foods to try and helping me pick out the recipes for dinner for the week - and actually eats them because she picked them out. That said, if I make her eat a pea, she will vomit 5 minutes later all over the floor. I used a book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron as my reference for feeding babies (I have 3, oldest is 6). She quotes Dr. Brazelton's Minimal Daily Diet for a Toddler (ages 1-3) as:

- one pint of milk (16 oz., 2 cups, 4 4-oz. servings or 4 1/2 cup servings) or its equivalent in cheese, yogurt or ice cream
- 2 oz. of iron-containg protein (meat or egg) or cereals fortified with iron
- 1 oz. of orange juice or fresh fruit
- 1 multivitamin to cover uneaten vegetables

I think your just in a phase and you'll slowly get out of it. My daughter will eat what she sees other kids eating, but not if it's just me giving it to her. Going to preschool that had a lunch period really helped - mostly in the 4-year-old program.

Good luck!

Hi T.~

I have a seriously picky eater. He eats a total of about a dozen different foods. He's 3 1/2. This has been going on for a couple of years now... he ate baby food ok, but still had his favorites. Now he eats the same things for lunch every day and the same for dinner every day. Really. For over two years now. Our doctor suggested vitamins, too, but I could never get him to take it... no liquid, no Flintstones gummy vites, nothing. We finally did a blood test and it showed he was getting the proper nutrition, and he's growing and learning and happy, so I've decided not to fight that battle. If he wants chicken and yogurt and bananas every day, ok. We offer him new foods every day, with no success. He doesn't eat sweets ... won't try anything new! His big treat is a milkshake and french fries.

I guess what I'm saying is, if your little guy is eating healthy foods when he eats, maybe just let him for a while. Keep offering new foods, but aren't there other things that are more important to correct? I really focus on my guy's behavior and make sure he's a polite, nice kid. He's happy and healthy, and that's what matters. Hopefully, he'll get more adventurous as he grows...

BTW~ I have a one year old also, who will eat anything in sight. Everyone is different. Thank God.

Hi T.! My daughter went through the same thing, she was even eating only those exact same foods....all the time. She used to eat all sorts of vegetables (and other foods) and then just stopped and that lasted nearly 6-8 months. For a little while I was able to put vegetables in other foods, like applesauce and even yogurt, yes a little gross, but she ate it! At least for a little bit and then she caught on and refused even that. She just recently started eating them again. I have always given my daughter a multivitamin that way she is getting a dose of everything she is missing from not eating her vegetables (and other nutritious foods). I was just happy to get her to eat whatever I could.
Toddlers are weird little people sometimes and I think it is completely normal for them to go through these type stages. I would say as long as he is not dropping any weight and as long as he is happy and healthy to just go with the flow for a little bit and reintroduce different foods on occasion. I don't know if the vomiting is something to worry about or if its something he forces himself to do when you are asking him to eat something he doesn't want to, and if that continued I would talk to his pediatrician. One day you will sit down at the dinner table and he might start eating them again, like my daughter did. Now at dinner every night if she finishes her vegetables, I let her have an Edy's no sugar added fruit popsicle. There is no sugar and only 30 calories per pop, so it's a nice little reward for her, maybe its bribery, but she is eating a more balanced meal and I feel much better about her diet now. I don't know if this has helped at all, but I just wanted to let you know it's not just you and that many moms have gone through the same thing :)

P.S. I don't know if your doctor gave you a multivitamin or if you just went out and bought your own, but I just wanted to let you know that not all children's multivitamin have iron in them. My daughter needs iron because of a blood trait she has (it causes her to be borderline anemic), so I always look at the back to make sure it has iron in it. Just a little extra information. :) Good luck!

http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eate...

Hot dogs are not good for anyone!
Watch the multi vitamins most now contain aspartame! This poisons the body slowly!
Let him smell before tasting, and maybe make a game of it.
Does he eat bread or good crackers. How about a yoohoo, they are vitamins in that or a whey protein drink. Prayer is good too, but if you are stressing he will know, so try to relax while aproaching the food topic.

I started giving my son (age 17 months) Juice Plus Gummies because I, also, was concerned about his intake of fruits and vegetables (the ingredients for Juice Plus are 17 fruits & vegetables - it actually has a food label - not a supplement label and very thoroughly researched). I had also heard from other moms (and from Dr. Sears - www.AskDrSears.com) that after being on Juice Plus for awhile children actually started to desire more fruits and vegetables because of something called metabolic programming (you start to crave more of what your body intakes). Anyways, he loves them, and after researching the product more, my husband and I are now on it and I just became a distributor. Let me know if you have any questions. L. ____@____.com, www.LeslieBeverlyJP.com p.s. If your son won't eat the gummies, you can also break an adult capsule of Juice Plus into his applesauce. I still do this sometimes into my son's yogurt.

Your toddler ate veggies before and liked them, so most likely he'll go back to eating them eventually. I believe there's a scientific study out there that shows how toddler taste buds actually change, explaining why kids will love certain foods one day and the next day they hate them! My 18 year old daughter was THE worst eater..she wouldn't even eat grilled cheese or mac & cheese! She ate pizza, PB&J, hot dogs, ice cream and fries for most of her childhood. No fruit or veggies at all, but we did give her all natural juice and multi vitamins and she's now a very healthy soon-to-be-adult. Her doctor swore that she'd eat what her body needed, although I was puzzled by what her body was doing with all that yuck food :) Keep putting the healthy stuff on his plate, and he'll probably start eating it again in no time: :)

T. i agree about puree veggies although i have the book mentioned previously, the recipes all but a few were not tasty. but in reality you can puree all kinds of veggies and add them to your usual meals, about 5-7 minutes before the food is cooked. for example, i add about half a cup of puree sweet potatoes to the pancake mix, or make the chicken soup with all sorts of puree veggies, or in the morning "green eggs/spinach or broccoli puree.".
on the other note, being picky is so normal for toddlers. i think we were in hot dog and mac and cheese hell for about a year. i thought it would never end to the point that nowadays i despise any kind of pasta. but i had to put a stop to it. i know all doctors say kids will eat when they are hungry so just keep offering foods. i had to do just that. also not much snacks between the three mealtimes. it took good two weeks for my kids to accept the fact that they will have to eat what's being offered to them unless they want to go hungry. mine were about two and a half when i changed everything for them. they're still not big eaters as in their portions aren't huge but they will eat anything i give them. if they really really dislike the food, i say ok 5 bites only. and then try to count the bites a few times. but i do this only for foods i know they don't like (their most disliked foods are musaka and stuffed green peppers).
anyways, give it a shot. don't stress if he refuses at first. he will for sure throw a temper tantrum or just plain refuse to ear. that's ok, cover the food and take everything off the table. and don't talk about food. when he asks for anything, snacks, sweets, yoghurt etc you say no you first have to eat your food.
the most important thing is not to allow food to become a power struggle as their relationship with food gets defined at an early age.
good luck

Wow T. I have the same problem with my daughter she is only one and she wont eat anything either. We haven't been to the pediatrician yet but when we go I will give you the results. We had to put my daughter back on formula because she was so under weight since then she has been gaining weight. They also told us to try to make smoothies for her because she loves bananas. So thats something you can try in the mean time.

All 3 of my kids went through a picky eating stage around 2-3yr.s of age. Although, it frustrated me, they all grew out of it. 2 of them grew out of it within about 15 months, 1 was picky for about 3 years! It was his slightly older sister who finally got him trying old favorites again. It sounds like you're getting the 4 food groups in him. But, if you're concerned about nutrition,you can try to get him to take vitamins (check the label for proper amount). I noticed that there is an Arbonne distributor associated with this link. They have a vitamin enriched punch for kids. Otherwise, try not to get too frustrated or worried--he'll grow out of it eventually.
I just read the response about your child eating what is put in front of him or too bad. That's basically what we did. We did not cater to their pickiness. Although, I did prepare their preferred meal once a week. When they get hungry enough they'll eat. I still wouldn't worry too much.

My oldest went thru a similar phase. Her pediatrician said it was just that - a phase - and a lot of little ones go thru it. He told me to let her eat whatever she wanted, as long as she was eating something, and give her the multi-vitamin. Sure enough, it only lasted a few weeks and she was back to eating normally. Hope this helps.

Our pediatrician suggested we make it a game. We told Mackenzie she had to eat atleast her age in bites of everything on her plate. So if we had chicken, potatoes and carrots, she had to have 3 bites of everything. And we would do the samething for me and my hubby. We each had to take 10 bites of everything. also, we stopped making her rewards for eating her dinner junk food. Now for reward, she can pick her dessert from our dessert drawer in the fridge. Last night she could have grapes or an orange dipped in a little bit of whipped cream. When I go grocery shopping I let her pick out 5 things we are going to try each week. We get 2 veggies, 2 fruits and 1 junk/special food. I have even tried things i don't normally eat. And she is my helper in the kitchen, too. We let her set the table and help "cook" even if it is just mixing the food in the pan. We bought her a little apron and she uses some of her mittes for "oven Mitts" so she doesn't get splashed. She went through a phase where she was really picky, but making it fun and letting her help cook the food she picks out really helped.

Hi T.,

Toddlers go throug stages where food is concerned. As long as he is eating I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like the stuff he likes is good food, lots of protein, so don't push it and don't stress about it. I doubt that he actually vomits when you get him to taste something new. Spitting up and vomiting are two different things. Kids can make themselves spit up for lots of reasons but real vomit is a violent, uncontrollable act. He's only two, he's got lots of time to try new things and to go back to old ones. Really, if he's healthy and happy, don't make food an issue. Just let him eat what he wants right now, as long as it's good food. One day he'll just want something else, I promise. Abuela

try letting him dip everything... let him dip stuff in Ranch dressing, ketchup, mayo, mustard- whatever he likes!! usually just the dipping part makes eating WAY more fun nad toddlers LOVE it.

altho it may sound gross to us to eat carrots with ketchup- he may enjoy it!!

he will eventually outgrow the need to dip everything but continue to love the foods. :)
Good luck! God bless!
L. in Mathews

T. C -

I too have a picky eater. The problem I have is all the conflicting information I get from people, doctors and family. Some say to encourage your child, one study I read the other day states that forcing your child in any way to eat leads to childhood obesity. The best advice that I feel I have received is this:

Don't worry about each meal being balanced, focus on the week. With this in mind try to be cunning about the food your child eats. For example, The juice I give my daughter is the V8 Fusion. It has vegetable juice in it. When I make spaghetti, I puree carrots very very fine and add the puree to her sauce (typically if I try to get her to eat a carrot she vomits). Also, I have made her a part of the cooking process. She's more interested in the food that way and seems more inclined to try new foods. Lastly, we have fun. One of her favorite meals is a tortilla with eyes, nose and a mouth cut out. We fill each spot with healthy foods. Peas, peanuts, pine nuts, and corn can be teeth, chicken, steak or fish can be the nose or eyes, banannas or strawberries can fill the extra spot, we make hair, ears, mustache, whatever. She gobbles it up! I think at their young age they just want to have fun and if you bring that to the table instead of YOU MUST EAT you may find a little success. Good luck. And, don't let anyone discourage you about your child. He will eat when he's hungry.

Hi T.:
Your son is doing just fine.His body may be in a slow growth stage and he wont always be a picky eater during his growth spurts.Just be sure to give him a variety of foods on his plate at mealtime and snack.Also,fresh air stimulates the appetite so perhaps an outdoor walk or play activity will help.I know it's tough for a mom during times such as this,but his body will tell him what it needs and very soon those veggies will be his favorite again.I'm surprised that your pediatrician didn't tell you this.All children go through it so calm your fears mom.